BACKPACKERS are rolling up their sleeping bags and returning to the Cassowary Coast in droves, looking for work as the region's banana farms get back to production after cyclone Yasi.

The huge storm in February flattened about 80 per cent of the region’s farms, which usually keep about 4000 staff employed – including 1500 backpackers.

Banana growers were forced to let staff go and towns including Innisfail, Tully and Mission Beach have been suffering as they wait for the travellers to return.And finally, they are.

Hostels that have been practically empty for months are filling up, with occupancy sitting at 50 per cent or more around the region.

Phone inquiries from eager travellers looking to book rooms are pouring in, according to excited operators around the region.

"We had a real slump there for a while," Tully’s Top Pub Backpackers manager David Corbett said.

"At the moment, we are about 50 per cent full but that is only because the bananas are not back up to 100 per cent just yet. Give it eight weeks or so and we will have enough work for all the travellers and we will be chocka again."